European elite bolster squads

AC Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid are all looking for reinforcements this month before the Champions League knockout stages begin

Ibrahim Afellay has signed for Barcelona from PSV for a cut-price £2.6m (AP Photo, Siu Wu)

The three European clubs posing the biggest threat to a concentration of
Premier League interest in the last eight of the Champions League will all
reinforce their squads this month with established internationals. Yesterday
AC Milan, who meet Tottenham in February, and Barcelona, who will play
Arsenal, registered Antonio Cassano and Ibrahim Afellay respectively on
their rosters. The France defender Rod Fanni has joined Marseilles, who
contest a place in the quarter-finals of Europe’s main club tournament with
Manchester United.

Cassano is already training with Milan, the Serie A leaders, and though his
addition to the squad is an opportunist move, his spell with Sampdoria
having come to an abrupt end because of a row with the club’s owner, he will
offer Massimiliano Allegri, the Milan coach, attacking options. At least
that’s the positive outlook taken by Allegri. The risk is that Cassano, who
had stormy relationships with his coaches